


Finding the Way Home

by sweetstuff6789



Category: Cookie Run (Video Game)
Genre: Alchemist Cookie/Cheerleader Cookie mentioned, Bad Luck, Family, Gen, Illness, Or Is It?, Other, Slow Burn, Spoiler Alert: Not This Time, Struggle to survive, familyfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-12-01 07:02:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11481153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetstuff6789/pseuds/sweetstuff6789
Summary: Trying to survive in the wilderness while sick is usually a curse.  And Werewolf Cookie expected nothing less, with his rotten luck.  But this time, his luck might just take a permanent turn for the better.





	1. Prologue

If you were to ask the gray-haired cookie wandering through the woods, he would've told you that the night was freezing cold, with almost no light filtering through the branches. A quick observation of the area would quickly tell you that he was wrong; the night air was pleasantly cool, and while it was weeks away from a full moon, there was certainly enough light to navigate by. Of course, this assumes you would have been _able_ to ask that cookie what he thought of the night. If he had seen anyone approach him, there was a good chance that he'd run off, and an even better chance that he'd leave felled trees and panicked howls in his wake.

Constantly avoiding others and living on the run was hard enough for Werewolf Cookie. And doing all of that while famished, fatigued, and feverish was clearly taking its toll.

Werewolf crashed against one of the trees, exhaustion finally overcoming him. A shaky hand pawed at the tree trunk until it got a solid hold, supporting the cookie’s body as he sank to the ground. His breaths came out in heavy, labored pants, and his face felt uncomfortably warm and damp. He considered taking off his cloak and exposing himself to the cold air to try and cool off. His worn old tank top and pants didn't provide or hold much warmth on their own, so just taking off the thick, warm cloak would do it. Unfortunately, his thought process was far from its most rational, and he couldn't fathom the idea of taking the cloak off without dropping it on the ground and losing it. Even in his feverish haze, he knew it would be a bad idea to abandon the only defense he had against the unforgiving cold. Thus, the cloak stayed. Werewolf hoped that keeping himself warm would push his fever until it broke on its own, and he'd awaken rested and lucid.

With that sorted out, a new problem presented itself: _where,_ exactly, to rest. The need for shelter was hardwired into him, and he had learned from experience that sleeping on the ground would just invite trouble. He didn't like being attacked in his sleep normally, but with how horrible he felt, an ambush was the last thing he needed. This was usually the point where he would retreat to a cave or a wide patch of underbrush, but it was kind of difficult to do so when there weren't any in close proximity. It was rare to find a forest with nothing but trees, and yet that was exactly the kind of forest Werewolf had found himself in.

It looked like the only way to go was up. And what better place to go up than the very tree he was leaning against? He turned to face the trunk and, scowling with determination, began to scramble up it. His hands scratched at the bark like claws, desperately trying to get purchase on the rough surface. It strained his hands and feet to try and clamber up the tree with no holds, but the branches were just a couple feet up, the branches were this close, if he could just reach up and grab one and pull -- !

Werewolf fell to the ground with a heavy thud. His usual strength and agility weren't with him tonight, and he'd completely misjudged how far away those branches had been. For about a minute, he just lay on the ground, trying to catch the breath that had been knocked out of him. So, climbing a tree to sleep tonight probably wasn't going to work. There was no shelter in this forest other than the treetops, and since those weren't available to him… Slowly, he brought his aching body upwards, and stood on his feet. He bent his knees into a crouch -- standing might be more than he could handle right now. Weary and unfocused, Werewolf tried to stay alert and keep watch for any danger.

A part of him hoped that nothing would happen, that there was nothing in the forest that would take interest in him, and he'd be able to rest. Part of him tried to rationalize that thought: with the huge commotion he'd made earlier, any wildlife with sense would've heard the falling trees and gotten away. But the larger part of him knew that was just a fantasy, that something would come to find and attack him sooner or later. He wouldn't be safe, he wouldn't be able to rest.

He didn't have that kind of luck.


	2. Trees that Go Crash in the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The night takes an unexpected turn for Alchemist Cookie and Vampire Cookie. Just what is making that commotion out there?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to my friend @koumorisaki for beta reading part of this chapter!

The beginning of the night had felt like any other for Vampire Cookie and Alchemist Cookie. Alchemist had emerged from her lab for the evening after a hard day’s work. Reviewing her notes after the fact was a common practice for her; who knew what revelations or solutions could be found in a moment of reflection and repose? Archimedes had figured out water displacement while reclining in the bath, after all. She’d slowly made that a habit of hers as a result, taking breaks after long research sessions to recollect her thoughts. (This habit made Cheerleader worry less about her health, too, so that was another perk.)

This time, her break was late enough in the evening that her brother was finally up and about. While Vampire was almost insufferably lazy during the day, he showed a much more active, passionate side at night. Alchemist theorized that this increase in energy was due to a combination of vampirism, the hangover from the previous day of wine finally letting up, and shifted circadian rhythms. (Much as she wanted to think that this was because he wanted to work off his earlier sloth, she knew her brother better than that.) Whatever the cause, the effect was that he tended to get more done at night, which Alchemist could appreciate.

Tonight, he was engrossed in a thick tome of philosophy, sipping from his glass of red wine only occasionally. Not the most active thing he could be doing, perhaps, but Alchemist wouldn't complain. She peered over the top of it to see where he was. Her eyes were greeted by the chapter heading “The Meaning Of Life,” and she couldn't help but smirk a little. Hardly a surprise; Vampire had been interested in that topic for as long as she could remember (and she had a long memory). The book looked new, though. A fresher perspective on a classic topic… She was almost impressed. He _could_ work towards things in his everyday life if he wanted! What a mood lifter seeing him had turned out to be.

Yes, as the two siblings had begun to read in the living room, they had assumed it would be an ordinary night. Better than ordinary, even, given how they weren't butting heads (or more aptly, Alchemist butting her head and Vampire leaning out of her way). A pleasantly calm night, all things considered.

Then the trees had started falling.

It commenced with the fall of a single tree, a mile or so away. Both cookies’ heads snapped up from their readings, facing the direction of the noise. Exchanging a glance with each other, they paused for a moment, before Vampire broke the silence.

“So, you heard that too?”

“Yes. It sounded like a tree.”

“Do you think it's a fluke, or a storm?”

Before Alchemist could answer, three more similar sounds followed, each in quick succession of the other.

“No, it's neither. Definitely something out there actively knocking them down. Let's go,” she said, placing her notebook down and getting up from the chair. She had already grabbed two lanterns by the time Vampire followed suit. Wordlessly, she held a lantern out to him, and he took it. Before the flames in the lanterns could flicker twice, the two were out the door and into the woods.

The two knew the scenery around their house like the backs of their hands, so they easily spotted the approximate site of the carnage. Their lanterns, combined with the moonlight, provided them more than enough light to see the direction where the beast that had done this went. As Vampire glanced down the makeshift path to look for obstacles, Alchemist bent down to the ground, opting to take a closer look at the prints the beast had left.

“It looks like a wolf left these tracks. A large one, too.”

“Hm, that's interesting,” Vampire answered, his focus clearly more on the trail than her words.

“Vampire? We don't have wolves in this forest. We've _never_ had wolves.”

This was enough to get him to turn around and pay attention. “...what? We haven't?” His gaze shifted from his sister to the tracks before him, a bewildered expression on his face. “Then how did this happen?”

“Well, however it happened, it's here now. At least it can't have gone far. No other trees have fallen.” She shrugged, then followed the tracks, keeping the lantern light low to the ground. Her brother followed suit.

True enough to Alchemist's hypothesis, the tracks came to a stop after a few yards. Confusingly, the wolf paw prints gave way to cookie footprints, but that didn't give the siblings pause; it couldn't, not when they were still tracking a mostly-mystery monster. At the end of the trail, a few feet away, the two could make out a figure leaning on a tree. The cookie appeared to be crouching on the ground, and its breaths came in heaves. Its apparent exhaustion tricked Alchemist and Vampire into thinking that it was safe to approach, but as soon as they stepped closer, the figure jolted at the light and moved its head around wildly. When it saw the two standing there, it froze.

A pair of icy blue eyes stared back at them for a moment. Before either of them could say a word, the owner of those eyes transformed into the fearsome beast that had left the tracks. As its howl echoed around them, they braced themselves for an attack. An attack that never came, for the huge wolf turned tail and ran in the other direction. The siblings only needed to look at each other for a moment to ascertain that the other was okay and communicate the plan. Without needing to say a word, they ran off in the same direction the wolf was going, keeping as closely behind it as they safely could.

Trees knocked down by the wolf made the pursuit more difficult, but they never lost sight of their mark. Persistence paid off, and soon the wolf shrank back down to its regular-sized form. The cookie lay on the ground, face down and motionless. After pausing for a moment to make sure it wouldn't run off, Vampire drew closer -- making the careless mistake of not bothering to check if the cookie was actually unconscious or not.

“How curious. It looks li-iiIIIIKE!” He realized a split second too late that the cookie's eyes were open and watching, and barely managed to transform into Juice Bat before the wolf came out. Vampire pulled into a defensive stance once he transformed back, but he needn't have bothered. A low, tired growl was all the beast could manage, and it was swaying on its paws. Ears down and eyes sunken, it looked less like a ferocious predator and more like a beaten fighter, about to collapse. And sure enough, the wolf collapsed not five seconds later. As the sound of it hitting the ground reverberated through the trees, it transformed back into a cookie once again.

Alchemist shot Vampire an incredulous look. “You idiot…” she mumbled, shaking her head. This time, it was she who approached the fallen cookie, after making sure that they had, in fact, passed out. Their breaths were shallow but consistent, and their face was flushed and soaked with sweat. The expression on their face looked...pained. Something about it just kept Alchemist looking at them.

Vampire was the one to break the silence. “So...what do we do now?”

Alchemist met his eyes silently. She glanced back at the unconscious cookie in front of her, then looked back at her brother. “Well, we can't just leave them out here!” she yelled, hoisting them onto her shoulder. “Come on!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's the first chapter! I'm not certain when I'll be updating with the next chapter, but it'll probably be closely followed by the chapter after that. This is my first fanfic, so please, feel free to tell me what you think did and didn't work. Thank you so much for reading!


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